Therapies to reverse tissue damage from osteolytic inflammatory diseases are limited by the inability of current tissueengineering procedures to restore lost hard and soft tissues. There is a critical need for new therapeutics in regeneration. In addition to scaffolds, cells, and soluble mediators necessary for tissue engineering, control of endogenous inflammation is an absolute requirement for success. Although significant progress has been made in understanding natural resolution of inflammation pathways to limit uncontrolled inflammation in disease, harnessing the biomimetic properties of proresolving lipid mediators has not been demonstrated. Here, we report the use of nano-proresolving medicines (NPRM) containing a novel lipoxin analog (benzo-lipoxin A 4 , bLXA 4 ) to promote regeneration of hard and soft tissues irreversibly lost to periodontitis in the Hanford miniature pig. In this proof-of-principle experiment, NPRM-bLXA 4 dramatically reduced inflammatory cell infiltrate into chronic periodontal disease sites treated surgically and dramatically increased new bone formation and regeneration of the periodontal organ. These findings indicate that NPRM-bLXA 4 is a mimetic of endogenous resolving mechanisms with potent bioactions that offers a new therapeutic tissue-engineering approach for the treatment of chronic osteolytic inflammatory diseases.

Charchar, Fadi, and Golledge, Jonathan (2020) An improved 3-(4,5dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-5-(3-carboxymethoxyphenyl)-2-(4-sulfophenyl)-2Htetrazolium proliferation assay to overcome the interference of hydralazine. Assay and Drug Development Technologies, 18 (8) pp. 379-384.

The 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-5-(3-carboxymethoxyphenyl)-2-(4-sulfophenyl)-2H-tetrazolium (MTS) assay is one of the most commonly used tests of cell proliferation. Hydralazine has been reported to interfere with the performance of the MTS assay when used on adherent cells. This study aimed to investigate whether hydralazine interferes with the performance of the MTS assay on suspended cells. THP-1 (a monocytic leukemia cell line) cells were cultured in the presence or absence of hydralazine (0, 10, 50, 100, and 500 lM) for 2 or 24 h. Cell numbers were analyzed using the MTS, trypan blue exclusion, or microscopic assays. A modified version of the standard MTS assay was established by centrifuging the cells and replacing the test medium with fresh culture medium immediately before the addition of the MTS reagent. Culture of THP-1 cells with hydralazine at concentrations of 50, 100, and 500 lM for 2 h increased absorbance (p < 0.001) in the standard MTS assay, whereas both the trypan blue exclusion assay and microscopy suggested no change in cell numbers. Culture of THP-1 cells with 100 and 500 lm hydralazine for 24 h increased absorbance (p < 0.05) in the standard MTS assay; however, trypan blue exclusion and microscopy suggested a decrease in cell numbers. In a cell-free system, hydralazine (100 and 500 lM) increased absorbance in a time-and concentrationdependent manner. The modified MTS assay produced results consistent with trypan blue exclusion and microscopy using THP-1 cells. In addition, the modified MTS assay produced reliable results when K562 and Jurkat cells were incubated with hydralazine or b-mercaptoethanol (bME). In conclusion, a simple modification of the standard MTS assay overcame the interference of hydralazine and bME when assessing suspended cells.

The photocatalytic activity of the ZnO NRs/CuO composite film was investigated by using both experimental and numerical methods. The ZnO NRs/CuO composite film exhibits significantly enlarge absorption range to visible-light and suppress the recombination rate of the photogenerated electron-hole pairs, which can be well utilized as a photocatalyst. The ZnO NRs/CuO composite film also presents good stability, and reusability, and durability for photo-decomposition purpose. The optimal ZnO NRs/CuO composite film contains 1μ-thick of CuO film and 10 nm-thick of ZnO NRs film. The donor concentration in ZnO NRs film should be lower than 1016 cm−3. The short circuit current density of the optimal composite film is 25.8 mA/cm2 resulting in the calculated pseudo-order rate constant of 1.85 s−1. The enhancement in degradation efficiency of this composite film is attributed to the inner electric field and large effective surface area of ZnO NRs film.

in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com) Monodisperse magnetite nanospheres with hollow interior structure were synthesized through one-pot solvothermal process, in an isothermal environment at 200 C for 12 h, using a sole iron precursor (FeCl 3 .6H 2 O) and without any template. We demonstrated the development of hollow structure of magnetite spheres by characterizing systematically the changes of morphology and crystal structure for different processing times. We also provided the cross-sectional images of the Fe 3 O 4 spheres at different processing times to visualize the hollowing process inside the spheres with time. A detailed process mechanism to form the hollow structure of magnetite spheres was proposed, combining the formation of numerous tiny grains, the spherical assembly of those grains and the chemical conversion of the Fe (III) compounds to generate Fe 3 O 4 simultaneously coupled with the Ostwald ripening process within the magnetite spheres.